BEIJING - The world's top steel producer China Baowu Steel Group is partnering with Honeywell International Inc to produce hydrogen energy in an effort to help reduce carbon emissions in the steel sector, the companies said on Monday.

In statement published by Honeywell on its official WeChat account, it said its subsidiary Honeywell UOP would provide high-purity hydrogen stations with hourly production of 6,000 standard cubic metres to a unit of Baowu.

The hydrogen product will be used for Baowu's non-oriented silicon steel production -- which is used in components for new energy vehicles (NEVs) -- and its vehicle hydrogen stations, the statement said. It did not say where the hydrogen will come from.

China, the world's top steel producer with over one billion tonnes of crude steel production, has been trying to cut greenhouse gas emissions to meet the country's pledge to bring its emissions to a peak before 2030. The ferrous sector accounts for around 15% of the country's total carbon emissions.

The Baowu Group set up three trial bases in the country last year to research and develop low-carbon smelting technology including the development of hydrogen metallurgy.

The company did not reply to requests for further comment on the agreement with Honeywell.

Construction on the project has started and will be in operation in 2022, said Honeywell UOP.

 

(Reporting by Min Zhang, Muyu Xu and Shivani Singh; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise) ((min.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; (8610) 5669-2105;))